CHARLOTTE, N.C. – While it could’ve been first-time octagon jitters or the noticeable adrenaline dump in the second round, Takanori Gomi likely faltered in his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut due to a much more obvious reason: Kenny Florian’s remarkable standup game.

Florian edged the former PRIDE champion and solidified his standing as the UFC’s top lightweight not named B.J. Penn with a third-round submission victory on Wednesday.

The fight capped off UFC Fight Night 21, which aired live on Spike TV from Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C., as a lead-in for the debut episode of “The Ultimate Fighter 11.”

With Florian’s crisp striking and effective jab, Gomi could never mount much of an offense. Additionally, so battered by the strikes and forced to take a defensive position in the second half of the fight, Gomi left himself open for an easy takedown in the third.

Once on the ground, Florian made quick work of the Japanese fighter while moving into the mount position and then taking his opponent’s back when Gomi tried to roll free from the susceptible position. Florian quickly slapped on a rear-naked choke and prompted the tapout just seconds later at the 2:52 mark of the round.

“I just felt he was open for [the takedown],” Florian said. “I just wanted to keep mixing it up and wait for him. He was very low, so it was tough to shoot in on him. I had to get him a little desperate. I opened him up with the strikes, and he got a little upright, and I took him down.”

Florian moves to 12-5 (11-3 UFC) with the win, and aside from a title loss to Penn in August, he’s undefeated in his past eight fights with all but one of the victories coming via stoppage. Gomi (31-6 MMA, 0-1 UFC), once considered the world’s top lightweight fighter, has now lost three of his past five fights.

In the night’s co-headliner – one delayed by a brief power outage that turned Bojangles Coliseum dark for approximately 10 minutes – two very differently shaped heavyweights collided as 6-foot-10 skyscraper Stefan Struve met the portly Roy Nelson.

But as Nelson, a former IFL champion who recently topped a star-studded field to win “The Ultimate Fighter 10,” continually reminds us, don’t let the belly fool you.

Despite looking like a cartoon-like affair as Struve towered over his opponent, Nelson quickly fought through his opponent’s massive reach and blasted the Dutch fighter with two perfectly placed overhand rights. The second one caused Struve’s legs to buckle, and Nelson quickly followed him to the mat with a barrage of punches to force the remarkably quick TKO stoppage.

In the weeks leading up to the fight, Nelson, who’s actually considered a better ground fighter than striker, continually said he’d have no problem dealing with his opponent’s reach and would fight right through it. He did just that in a thoroughly impressive performance that lasted a mere 39 seconds.

“The biggest thing is you have to get through the reach,” Nelson said while looking at a replay. “That was pretty.”

Nelson – sometimes irked that he’s not mentioned as a contender like fighters such as Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos – said the latest win should put him in the title mix and that he hopes to fight a legit top-10 heavyweight in his next bout.

“Big Country’s” record now stands at 15-4 overall and 2-0 in the UFC. Struve, a 22-year-old highly praised by Nelson after the bout, snaps a three-fight UFC win streak and drops to 19-4 (3-2 UFC).

In a middleweight bout widely regarded as the early favorite for “Fight of the Night” honors – and one featuring two of the division’s most successful fighters of late – Nate Quarry proved no match for fellow fan favorite Jorge Rivera.

A patient Rivera dropped his opponent twice in the first few minutes of the opening round, and the second knockdown opened a fountain of blood from Quarry’s nose. With Quarry’s back against the cage, Rivera continued the assault and dropped his opponent yet again with a barrage of punches and knees. Quarry surprisingly survived the round but only after multiple warnings from referee Mario Yamasaki that he was close to stopping the fight.

Rivera wasted no time in the second round, staggered Quarry with a straight right, and then dropped him with another. This time, though, Quarry was clearly dazed and forced to cover up until the TKO stoppage brought about a merciful end at the 0:29 mark.

“I asked for this fight because I knew Nate was a tough dude,” Rivera said. “I knew we’d put on a good fight. And that’s what I’m hear for, to fight for the fans.”

With the win, Rivera moves to 18-7 (7-5 in the UFC) and has now posted three consecutive wins since the untimely death of his 17-year-old daughter in 2008. At 38 years old, the nine-year veteran arguably has never looked better.

Quarry, who entered the bout with four wins in a five-fight span, drops to 12-4 overall and 7-3 in the UFC.

In the night’s first televised bout, “The Ultimate Fighter 9″ lightweight winner Ross Pearson bruised and bloodied his opponent early and used that momentum to top German fighter Dennis Siver via unanimous decision.

Pearson’s crisp striking proved a fraction quicker than his opponent’s, and it forced Siver often to counter-fight. Mixing in jabs, low kicks, power punches and constant movement, Pearson largely dictated to the pace of the fight and cruised to a decision victory by taking all three rounds for 30-27 winning scores on all three judges’ cards.

“It just goes to show how good Dennis is,” said Pearson, who competed for Team U.K. on the reality series. “I gave him some good shots, and he kept coming at me. … I dug deep and just kept coming forward.”

The loss snapped a remarkable run for Siver (15-7 MMA, 4-4 UFC), who followed a paltry 1-3 start to his UFC career with four consecutive wins, one of which came in an outside organization. Meanwhile, Pearson, fighting for the first time since his November second-round TKO victory over Aaron Riley at UFC 105, moves to 11-3 (3-0 UFC).

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